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Prolific American composer Philip Glass, whose work includes operas, symphonies, concertos and film soundtracks, has won the $100,000 Glenn Gould Prize.

He was the unanimous choice of the 10-member jury, which included pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who performed with Glass at the start of her career.

“It was a life-changing experience,” she told the audience attending the announcement at Koerner Hall on Tuesday.

Glass is the 11th winner of the prize named after the late, groundbreaking Canadian pianist Glenn Gould and administered by the Glenn Gould Foundation. It honours an individual for a unique lifetime contribution.

Music producer Bob Ezrin, the jury chair, said Glass brought “minimalism into the mainstream.”

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His operas, including Einstein on the Beach and The Voyage, play in leading opera houses, while film scores range from Errol Morris documentaries The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War to the thriller Candyman and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun.

Composer Philip Glass "brought minimalism into the mainstream."

The Juilliard School graduate studied with sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar before forming his Philip Glass Ensemble in New York in 1967. Though he wasn’t in attendance on Tuesday, his brief remarks of gratitude were read at the ceremony attended by all of the jury members, including singer Deborah Voigt, filmmaker Sarah Polley, writer Michael Ondaatje, singer Jay Hunter Morris, film producer Martin Katz, Princess Julie of Luxembourg, former Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson and singer Petula Clark.

Both Hunter Morris and Clark sang, accompanied by piano. Clark, whom Ezrin praised as leading the British music invasion that included the Beatles and Rolling Stones, performed her 1960s hit “Downtown” as well as “Reflections” from her 2013 album Lost in You.

All of the Gould winners have been men and Clarkson admitted the jury was aware of that fact but they were satisfied with their choice, picked from a roster of 80 names nominated by the public. “Nobody voted along party lines whether by their discipline or gender. They were all serious and notable artists,” Ezrin said.

Princess Julie, the only nonperformer on the jury, called Glass a “game-changer.”

A ceremony honouring Glass will be held at a later date. Previous winners include Canadians composer R. Murray Schafer, pianist Oscar Peterson and writer/performer Leonard Cohen.

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